


October 23rd

by omnisan



Series: In Which Matilda Vaanderhuut Is A Badass (But in Fallout 4) [11]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Birthday, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Memories, Repressed Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omnisan/pseuds/omnisan
Summary: Some would say it was a good day. Some would say it was like every other day. Some would hate the day.
Relationships: John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor
Series: In Which Matilda Vaanderhuut Is A Badass (But in Fallout 4) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1158953
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	October 23rd

Nate found Matilda by the waters edge in Sanctuary. Although it was still rather radioactive, it was a nice location to relax by. The temperature was starting to cool again, yet the sun still shone brightly in the clear sky. 

"Room for one more?" Nate asked, nodding at the space next to her.

Matilda looked up and smiled at him, scooting over to gesture for him to join her on the makeshift bench the people of Sanctuary had created. Nate sat in silence with her, watching the stream flow. In quiet moments like these, Mati wished she had a book to read. Things almost felt normal. 

"Lovely day, isn't it?" Mati asked.

"Sure is. Reminds me of old times."

"I was just thinking of that." 

Nate leaned back and fiddled around with his Pip-Boy before humming to himself. Mati glanced in his direction but didn't pry into his thoughts. He gladly shared them regardless.

"Would you look at that. It's October 23rd. It's been a whole year for us." 

"A whole year?" 

"Well, more like 211 years technically. But it only feels like a year since the bombs dropped. So much has changed." 

Mati silently agreed and continued to watch the stream. However, something was bothering her. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it yet. 

"What did you say the date was?" 

"October 23rd." 

Suddenly it hit her.

"Oh no." 

"What's wrong?" Nate asked, sitting up to focus on her abrupt grief-stricken face. 

"I didn't know. It didn't register until now." Mati covered her mouth, eyes glassing over, "Oh my god." 

"Are you alright?"

She shook her head slowly, almost in disbelief. "It's my birthday." 

"What?" Nate asked, unsure if he heard her correctly.

"It's my birthday. The anniversary of the bombs and the day I lost…" Mati felt like there was a lump in her throat as she recalled her memories. "I didn't even know it was my birthday back then." 

"Oh, Mati. I'm so sorry." Nate tried to comfort her. 

"I'd like to be alone now. Excuse me." 

Mati quickly left her spot at the stream side bench. Tears were already starting to fall from her eyes. She knew it wasn't Nate's fault, but she wished she would've never known the specifics. 

What a horrible day. 

"Hey, have you seen Matilda? I can't find her anywhere." 

Hancock was hoping Nate would know of his girlfriend's whereabouts, but he, too, had no idea where she had gone off to after their rather upsetting chat earlier.

"I haven't seen her since earlier. But…" Nate rubbed the back of his head, unsure if he should share his thoughts. "I think she wants to be alone."

"Did I do something?" Hancock asked, genuinely curious.

"No, it's not you." 

Hancock then pointed a bony finger at Nate, "Did you do something." 

"No." 

"Then spill the beans, man." 

"It's not really my place to say…" 

"So you know something I don't." Hancock stated. 

"Technically." Nate responded.

"Please, man. I'm begging you." To further his point, he clasped his hands together in front of him and did his best to give Nate puppy dog eyes. 

Somehow it worked.

"You can't let Mati know that I told you. I'd rather not sever our friendship over something like this." 

"Uh oh. Sounds bad." 

"Today is October 23rd." 

Nate looked at Hancock, hoping that would suffice as an answer, but he stared back with a blank look on his face. "Okay, so?" 

"That's when the bombs dropped, when we were frozen for 200 years, when we lost everything." 

"Oh." 

"It's also her birthday." 

"Oh shit." 

Both of them were surrounded in silence for a moment. Hancock had a lot to process.

"Where is she?" 

"I don't—"

"Come on, Nate. Help me out here." 

Nate easily gave in. "Red Rocket, probably. That's usually where she goes to be alone." 

"I'll be back." 

Hancock approached the Red Rocket right outside of Sanctuary. The sound of music reached his ears, or rather ear holes, and he knew he was heading in the right direction. Even as he approached the building, he could see Mati sitting on one of the stools that still remained, hunched over as if she was looking at something. 

Hancock was quiet. So quiet that Mati didn't even hear him approach, but that may have been because of the music as well. He watched her as she looked at a framed photograph. She didn't look at anything else for a long time. 

"You okay?" 

At the sound of his voice, Mati jumped off the chair and aimed her pistol right at Hancock's head before she realized it was him. She lowered her gun and looked embarrassed, although her eyes were red for another reason.

"Sorry." 

"I didn't mean to scare you." 

Mati placed her pistol back on the counter next to the picture frame. Hancock couldn't help but notice her try to discreetly wipe her eyes with her sleeve. He realized in that moment, he didn't even know what to say.

So he offered her his hand.

Mati looked at his outstretched hand then his face before connecting the dots. He was silently asking her to dance. She took his hand and they closed the gap between them, swaying to the song playing over the radio. Several songs had played before either of them spoke. Mati was the first to do so.

"I wish today didn't exist." Her voice was quiet.

"I know." Hancock kissed her head and rubbed her back, still swaying to the music. "You can't change your birthday and you can't change the awful events of the past, but you can still make new memories. Better ones that can replace the bad ones."

Mati was silent for a long time. She knew there's always be a part of her that wouldn't be able to forget Jonah, her former fiancé. She also knew it would be hard to forget the day the bombs dropped. That moment changed the world forever. She was still getting used to things being different. But Hancock was right. In a way, it was a new life. It was a chance to create new, happy memories.

"Can we dance to one more song?" Mati asked.

"Of course." 

Hancock was gone for a longer period of time than Nate had anticipated, despite the situation. So long, that he started to low-key worry. Perhaps he couldn't find Matilda and went looking elsewhere and found trouble instead. Nate tried to think positive, though. It was also a possibility that Hancock was able to turn Mati's mood around and they were having a good time alone together. 

If, after all, that wasn't the case, Nate still wanted to do something nice for Mati for her birthday. All she could think of were horrible memories that made today hard to bear, so he wanted to help change that.

Nate knew Sanctuary had plenty of alcoholic and special non-alcoholic beverages to go around, but gathering enough food for everyone for a party on such a short notice would be much too difficult. However, there was a stash of Slocum's Buzzbites that Nate could offer Mati in place of a cake. It was the next best sweet thing that could replace a birthday cake. 

As Nate searched around for more goodies for an impromptu party, he enlisted the help of the people of Sanctuary to quickly set up something to look nice for Mati's return. It was the least he could do.

It was nearly sundown before Mati and Hancock finally strolled up the main road of Sanctuary, hand in hand. After a few hours away, Mati was feeling better. She still didn't like what today stood for, but that was the reality she'd have to face every year, and it couldn't surprise and cripple her. 

"Where is everybody?" Hancock asked aloud, kicking Mati out of her thoughts. 

Normally there was always someone patrolling and sometimes a caravan trader coming or going. Even the sound of music playing from somewhere was commonplace, but now it was oddly silent. She thought she had recovered from earlier, but a pit started to grow in Mati's stomach again. Something wasn't right. 

"Stay close." Hancock said, taking his hand back to bring out a gun. Mati did the same and covered the angles he wasn't checking. 

They checked a few of the standing houses remaining, although they were mostly used for sleeping or personal quarters. When they came up on Nate's old house, something felt…off. Mati was the one to take the step forward to open the door. The lights were off but quickly turned on with a flip of the switch.

"Surprise." 

"Happy birthday!" 

Mati lowered her gun but stood in the doorway completely taken aback. Everyone from Sanctuary had crowded into one house to surprise her. Someone quickly turned on a radio and they all started to mingle at the impromptu party. Hancock put his hand on Mati's waist, breaking her out of her shock. Nate also came forward to try and explain things. 

"Figured you should have something nice to come back to today." 

Mati smiled. "That's sweet of you, Nate." 

"We all tried to get some snacks and drinks for everyone. Saved you some Buzzbites." 

"Oh hell yeah." Hancock said, pushing his way into the small crowd of people. 

"Unfortunately there's no cake or candles or presents." 

"That's okay. Things are different now." Mati smiled. "I'm gonna go get some Buzzbites now before Hancock eats them all."


End file.
